May Movies Part 1: Mother Mary & The Devil Wears Prada 2

Anne Hathaway is set to have five movies come out in 2026, and two of them are currently in theaters. Sadly, the Hathassaince is off to a rocky start. Let's dive into my reviews.

Mother Mary: Written and directed by David Lowery, I was very excited for this movie, given how much I loved his 2021 film, The Green Knight. I was expecting something similarly surreal and visually spectacular but unfortunately this movie is weird and unsettling, not in a good way. Hathaway stars as a pop icon named Mother Mary, who sings haunting dance music while wearing elaborate costumes and a halo. She is staging a comeback tour after she had an accident, but is unhappy with the costumes being proposed by her team. She heads to England, where her former collaborator, Sam (Michaela Coel), is working at a remote country estate, trying to prepare designs for an upcoming show. Sam is initially reluctant to work with Mary to prepare a new outfit, but after a lot of mysterious dialogue hinting at their past and Mary's clear desperation for someone who can interpret her artistic vision, Sam agrees.

What follows is a bizarre film where two women talk at each other and work out their creative differences and hostilities, but also, there's a ghost? Eventually there's an exorcism? And throughout there are flashbacks to Mary performing various songs, so the whole thing has a slightly surreal feel of a concert film? Listen, I did not get this movie at all, and I did not like it all. I'm sure there are high-minded people out there who thought this was a bold work of art, but to me it was a thought experiment that was better suited to being a 20-minute short film than a meandering two-hour extravaganza. Coel and Hathaway are two great actresses, and I would love to see them in another film where there's some actual plot. And maybe just make it a fun comedy, so we don't have to watch these two women weep at each other when they are capable of so much more expressive silliness. As far as I was concerned, this movie was an unfathomable waste of time.

The Devil Wears Prada 2: I am tempted to write "Electric Boogaloo" after that title, because unfortunately, this is a terrible sequel to the much-beloved 2006 movie. Directed by David Frankel and written by Aline Brosh McKenna (who were also responsible for the first film), Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are all back to reprise their roles. This time, Andy (Hathaway), who has successfully spent the past twenty years building out a journalism career, finds herself unexpectedly fired and in need of a job. Well, turns out Runway, the magazine still led by Miranda (Streep) and her consigliere, Nigel (Tucci), is in need of a features editor, so Andy is back into the world of high fashion, trying to craft meaningful articles alongside puff pieces on chemical peels. Meanwhile, Emily (Blunt) now works at Dior, who is a main advertiser for Runway, so Andy is reunited with another former colleague. 

I won't get into the plot - there is a lot of drama around ownership of the magazine and evil billionaires (you'll get to see Justin Theroux chewing the scenery for all its worth, with an assist from BJ Novak who just has the same expression on his face throughout), and there are a LOT of cameos from random people that help to jolt you awake while you fade away into boredom. For a movie that is concerned about how magazines and creative pursuits could be replaced by AI, it's ironic how the script and hapless editing make the proceedings feel like abject AI slop. All of the plot points feel tropey, and no amount of valiant acting from this all-star cast can rescue the film from feeling completely unnecessary. It's the curse of high expectations - having just rewatched the original, which was so iconic, I wanted more of the same, and the sequel simply could not deliver. I do know folks who have thoroughly enjoyed this film as a likable piece of nostalgia, but if you were expecting quality cinema, steer clear.